Sign of the times: Old Bel-Air Drive-In sign dismantled, sold to collector

Scott Cousins, scousins@thetelegraph.com

Published
10:48 am CDT, Friday, July 20, 2018

The sign from the Bel-Air Drive-In in Pontoon Beach was dismantled and removed July 19. The property had been sold by developer Larry Manns to an oil company for a convenience store/restaurant/travel stop, and the sign had to be removed. A Highland Park collector had purchased the sign in January, and was finally able to have it removed.

The sign from the Bel-Air Drive-In in Pontoon Beach was dismantled and removed July 19. The property had been sold by developer Larry Manns to an oil company for a convenience store/restaurant/travel stop, and

The sign from the Bel-Air Drive-In in Pontoon Beach was dismantled and removed July 19. The property had been sold by developer Larry Manns to an oil company for a convenience store/restaurant/travel stop, and the sign had to be removed. A Highland Park collector had purchased the sign in January, and was finally able to have it removed.

The sign from the Bel-Air Drive-In in Pontoon Beach was dismantled and removed July 19. The property had been sold by developer Larry Manns to an oil company for a convenience store/restaurant/travel stop, and

Sign of the times: Old Bel-Air Drive-In sign dismantled, sold to collector

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PONTOON BEACH — The sign at the Bel-Air Drive-In outlasted the theater itself by more than 30 years, but now that is gone, too.

And someone from Switzerland is sad to see it go.

Developer Larry Manns, who bought the property, located in Pontoon Beach at the intersection of Illinois Route 111 and Chain of Rocks Road (part of Historic Route 66) shortly after the theater closed in 1987, said he sold about 4.5 acres to a “major oil company” and the sign had to go. It was dismantled Thursday.

But rather than demolish and destroy it, he was able to sell it to a collector from Hanover Park, a Chicago suburb.

The old Bel-Air sign has long been an icon in the area, both because of the history of drive-in theaters and its association with Route 66.

Manns said he was somewhat sad to see the sign go, but was happy that it would be preserved.

““I tried to get the oil company to incorporate it into to their development, but they didn’t have room for it,” he said. “I found this guy and the sign’s going to stay alive in Hanover Park. That’s better than destroying it.”

Nathan Lippe, a long-time sign collector, said he was traveling for his job in the area about a year ago, noticed the sign and contacted Manns.

He paid “five figures” for the sign, he said, but did not disclose the actual sale price.

The sale had been completed in January, but removing the sign was delayed to bring in the proper equipment and deal with power lines.

“To me it’s the history and the memories behind them,” he said. “This was probably one of the most iconic neons left on Route 66 anywhere. Besides being a fantastic neon, the fact that it was on Route 66 means a lot.”

Lippe said the sign is actually in two sections — one is going to a collector in North Dakota, while he is keeping the other.

“It’s huge and super expensive to restore,” he said. “This one will be a tremendous amount of work. It will probably take $10,000 to $20,000 worth of neon glass alone.”

According to Cinema Treasures, a movie theater website, the Bel-Air opened in the mid-1950s on Route 66 as part of the drive-in theater craze.

A second screen was built in the 1970s, and at one time the theater could accommodate approximately 700 cars.

It included a concession building that housed a tiny indoor seating area with a large picture window for inclement weather, in part because it was originally open year-round.

The theater was run by BAC Theatres from 1982 until it closed in 1987. The drive-in was demolished in the mid-1990s, except for the marquee sign.

Lippe said as the sign was coming down, one of the best parts was talking to people who stopped to watch, and talked about their experiences at the drive-in.

Manns also talked about the crowd, and some of the stories they told.

“A few people said ‘I was conceived there,’” he said.

However, Lippe noted that if the sign had not been taken down, it probably would have fallen down in the near future.

“I’m sure a lot of people would be sad to see it go, but when I was here in May half the sign was about to fall down,” he said. “All those storms that had been coming through had been working on it.”

He also noted that the sign’s removal has already generated some interest among sign aficionados. He said a friend from Switzerland said he heard the sign was sold and was “sorry to see it go.”

Manns has constructed an industrial park on the site, with about half of the 25-acre property developed. He recently sold land to the oil company for the development of a convenience/gas station with a “sit-down” restaurant. Manns said he couldn’t identify the company, but said this was the company’s first location in this area.

Lippe, who started collecting signs after buying a small sign at an auction in the mid-1990s, said he was also looking for photographs of the sign to help with the restoration, noting that there is a completely different marquee under some of the marker boards.

“If anybody has any old pictures, that will help us restore it right,” he said.